horse of a different color part 3: THE FINALE

~ loooook at my horsey!!! I looooove how she turned out!!! ~

The reveal is finally - FINALLY - here peeps! After more than a year, SURPRISE! Here she is - my colorful little pony! Look how precious she is, standing so proud in her little pasture! :)

So of course you remember *THIS POST* when I introduced you to my paper mache horse that I had found in the basement of an antiques store, took home and painted black, and then ignored for too long...

... and in that same post, how I decided I needed to give my horse the attention and the fresh start it needed so it could reach the potential any paper mache creation is deserving of. High hopes for my friend, I had. Such high hopes! 

The Swedish dala horse was my main inspiration. I adore my Swedish friend Maria, and I have always loved these dala horses. I couldn't wait to get started! I drew out my design and began painting. Only... it looked just awful :( I had to be honest. It was truly horrid. Try as I might, I just couldn't get it right. I became completely bewildered. So the poor thing sat in a corner and whimpered at me for over a year. I felt so guilty I actually gave it a window to glance out of.

A few months ago the guilt + some new inspiration = snatching it up from it's window view before I hardly knew what I was doing, and painting over all my failed dala designs. WHEW! That felt sooo much better! In the back of my mind, I had an idea to make it into a cool *Piet Mondrian* tribute. But as I painted, I decided all the curves of the horse would have made all those straight lines nearly impossible. So... I just improvised. It was GREAT! I could hardly paint fast enough!  

Taken on Mother's Day... *LOVE*

I have very few photos of me actually working on a project!

Here is my tiny work space in my bedroom. All my paints and things - including my iTunes playing Imelda May on shuffle and repeat - and my patient horsey. At first it reminded me of the Coat of Many Colors spoken of in the Bible - you know, the story of Joseph. Then I loved how it started resembling a crazy quilt, made from all shapes and sizes of patchwork scraps pieced together willy-nilly. But in the end, the old cliche' won out - however you see it in your mind's eye, it's definitely A HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR :) Oh! And by the way? She's a GIRL!   

Now, she has waited a long, long time to prance around her pasture and show you how BEAUTIFUL she is! So please watch as she does all her turns for you, and shows off all her pretty colors!

She's ready for her close-ups!

NOW you know why I bought all that black automobile pin-striping!

I just can't help it you guys. I think she's so sweet :) I'm doing cartwheels - CARTWHEELS! - because I'm so happy she's finally finished after all this time. I feel like she is who she was supposed to be from the beginning. A horse of a different color - standing on the grass that she once looked out on from behind a window.